This doesn’t feel like a Monday to me. Maybe because I don’t have to work this week. I am sorry to those who does, it must feel awkward to work even a few days if you have two long weekends in a row.

Christmas came and went extremely uneventfully for me, how about you?

On Christmas Eve, Mom invited the whole family over to have take-out ribs, brisket, and sausages, shredded rotisserie chicken, and sushi. Strange combination and all take-out. I couldn’t have the ribs because of my teeth still being in recovery and all. I stuck to sushi and my gorgeous homemade mac n’ cheese. Homemade mac n’ cheese is always the best. I made it with whole milk and muenster cheese. The cheese melted so wonderfully in the béchamel sauce. Mmm…

Then on Christmas day, there was hot pot, which again, I couldn’t eat much of the food except for some leafy greens and imitation crabmeat which Mom bought the day before. No one considered cutting the food into smaller pieces so I can actually fit the food in my mouth because even after 10 days, my left jaw still cannot open all the way and it still hurts like a pain in the behind.

Yesterday, Boxing day, was the start of probably a week-long project. For years, mom have been wanting to scan and digitize all the photographs she brought over from China. These are her, my dad, and my childhood pictures.

After about 8 hours, she told me to wrap up the scanning and call it a day. All in all, I scanned in 565 photos, most taken between 1988 and 1998, with maybe a dozen photos shot in the summer of 2006.

I must admit, it was very interesting and fascinating looking at pictures of my mother as a young girl. Remarkably, she looked the same as she does now except now, there are a few more gray hair and wrinkles. What’s most interesting was she was smiling in the photos, something I don’t think I’ve seen. It’s not just any simple smile that’s only for the camera, it was a smile that spoke of freedom, happiness, and joy.

Looking at my dad was like looking at a ghost. He passed when I was five and I have little to no memory of him except what’s in the photos. From a lot of the photos I’ve seen in the past, at least, the ones after my birth, he didn’t smile either, always standing tall with a straight face.

However, I found some pictures where he was smiling yesterday, pictures from before I was born, pictures from their wedding night, when they were on their honeymoon, and when they were dating. It felt so weird seeing his arms wrapped around my mom, his gesture shouted, “I’m happy with her. I love her.”

I showed Mom one of the pictures and asked why I’ve never seen her smile like that, she answered, “I don’t have the teeth to smile like that anymore.” Huh…interesting.

I guess back to scanning I go…